Join The Fight Against School Privatisation
Edition 4 May 1st. The Tories aim to bring all schools into MATS (Multi Academy Trusts) but resistance is growing. Reports below from Lewisham and Birmingham
Lewisham Teachers and Parents Fight to Stop City Livery Company from Setting up a MAT
James Whiting, SEA General Secretary, explains how the Leathersellers Company in Lewisham are reverting to type by withdrawing their schools from the community
Parents and teachers listen to speeches at the end of their APRIL 22ND march.
The City of London livery companies have a long history of involvement in education. This originated in medieval times, when they represented the trades which give the companies their names and provided trade apprenticeships. Now, in spite of the names such as ‘Drapers’ and ‘Ironmongers’ their membership is made up of the rich and powerful in the City of London. Their wealth built up over time is often considerable. This resulted in ‘philanthropic’ investment in schools and universities in the nineteenth century, much of which ended up in partnerships with local councils.
London boroughs have been the default hosts of what were livery company voluntary aided schools configured in much the same way as some faith schools. Governorship was shared between the company, the local authority and elected parent and staff reps. Examples are Skinners, in Hackney, Coopers in Havering, Haberdashers with 18 private and state schools across London and the South East , and in Lewisham, the Leathersellers. Incidentally, the name Aske was recently dropped from the Haberdashers Trust schools, because his wealth was found to be generated from slavery.
The way these schools were set up in the first place comes straight from the patronising Victorian playbook of business philanthropy. Instead of education being seen as a right for all, recipients were supposed to be grateful for the tightly controlled largesse being foisted on them, if they were lucky enough to live near one of the company’s schools.
It was not until many of these schools became voluntary aided under the 1944 act that the company concerned developed a relationship with the relevant local council. The wealthy company members (membership requires being sponsored, paying a large fee and a hefty subscription) do not live in the community in which they run their schools neither do they use them. They are usually privately educated. Instead a panel made up from ‘Master, Wardens, Liverymen, Freemen and Company Staff’ make an annual visit to their schools where they might listen to a music concert or hand out awards. It is therefore, not surprising that livery companies have now created MATS to run their schools, removing themselves entirely from democratic accountability to their communities and returning to each company, the power to run schools as they see fit. Coopers, Haberdashers and Skinners have all created MATS. Now Leathersellers in Lewisham are catching up.
Leathersellers Company building in the City
The four Leathersellers ‘Prendergast’ Schools (named after Leatherseller member Dr Joseph Prendergast whose bequest enabled the building and opening of a girls’ grammar school in Lewisham in 1890) are popular with the local community. In 2009 the four schools, perhaps ominously, became a federation with a single governing body though still under the auspices of Lewisham council. Now they have announced their intention to set up a MAT. Parents have joined teachers on marches and demonstrations to prevent its formation which would give unprecedented power over staffing and governorship to the trust appointed by the company.
So far the Leathersellers have point blank refused even to consider a delay for further consultation, let alone drop the MAT proposal. The dispute went to ACAS who were unable to resolve it. After all, the Leathersellers are implementing a policy the DFE wants to see delivered across the country, so there is little incentive for them to do a deal. The NEU/GMB campaign response has been strike action, marches and a lobby of one of the Leathersellers’ dinners in the City. The feeling that valuable education resources are being stolen from the communities they serve was tangible on the march through Lewisham on April 22nd. ‘Whose Schools? Our Schools’ was the cry. As James Kerr, NEU Secretary, said, ‘If you run schools in our community without our consent, we will come to your dinner without yours’. The lobby outside the Leathersellers in Bishopsgate was a great success.
To get involved, request leaflets, etc email james.kerr@neu.org.uk
In spite of the rain Lewisham teachers and parents lobby the Leathersellers.
Say no to the forced academisation of all Birmingham’s Catholic schools
Academisation is being used by the Catholic Church to get more control over their schools. Richard Hatcher, SEA member, writes from Birmingham
Academies. The majority of Birmingham’s primary schools are ‘maintained’ schools which have remained as part of the local education authority, part of the Council. But 48 of Birmingham’s 79 secondary state schools are now academies, with no formal connection with the elected local Council.
Academies are often run by ‘Academy Trusts’ – organisations with little involvement by parents and staff at school level. They are another example of creeping ‘depoliticisation’ – the gradual erosion of the role of elected democracy in public life, exemplified by the creation of the West Midlands Combined Authority. Now it is spreading to Catholic schools in Birmingham and the local area.
Love Brum Schools is a group of parents who have children at Birmingham’s Catholic Schools. It also includes staff who work in them. They are campaigning against the attempt by the Catholic Archdiocese, led by Archbishop Bernard Langley, to pressure its local schools in Birmingham to change their status to become Multi Academy Trusts and to be amalgamated into one overarching Catholic ‘Multi Academy Company’.
Love Brum Schools wants to protect Catholic schools the way they are, led by independent head teachers supported by democratically organised governing bodies with strong links to the local community.
Conversion to academy status is of course a politically motivated project promoted by the Tory government, who have no interest in protecting and nourishing local democracy and decision making. The anti-democratic nature of imposed academisation is illustrated by the way in which the Archdiocese has sought to bring it about. There have been no discussions with staff or parents about academisation yet detailed plans have been made and attempts have been made to implement them.
Supporters of academies like to claim that converting schools into academies raises standards. There is no evidence to support this claim – although plenty of evidence of the damage it can do through a weakening of democracy and accountability, through financial mismanagement, and even through direct and indirect corruption.
For the evidence about academies see the recent special issue of the education journal FORUM Volume 64 (2022) Issue 3: A fully trust-led system? It includes two open access articles:
Editorial by Patrick Yarker, https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/vol-64-issue-3/article-9628/
The Schools White Paper (2022) and ‘regimes of truth’ by Hilary Povey and James Whiting, https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/vol-64-issue-3/article-9629/
Also see Warwick Mansell’s website Education Uncovered. “We aim to put under the microscope the endless waves of reform which have hit England’s schools in recent years. We will seek to hold policymakers and those with power to account for goings-on at ground level, as we dig around in the undergrowth of schools reform.” https://www.educationuncovered.co.uk/about/
You can contact Love Brum Schools at lovebrumschools@gmail.com.